Ares' "Run the Set" Shows a New Orleans We're Not Used To Seeing

The rapper and producer gives his own tour of the Crescent City.

The two narratives that most people associate with New Orleans's musical legacy are those related to jazz and bounce music. The city's jazz scene gave us greats like the Marsalis family and Louie Armstrong while bounce laid the foundation for larger-than-life rap careers like Juvenile, Birdman, and more. But in 2017's New Orleans, a collective called The Pink Room Project is taking these parts of the city's DNA, fusing it with forms of house music, and making a scene previously unknown to their hometown.

The most vocal character of the bunch is rapper and producer Ares who, at times, sounds like if Juvenile would have grown up listening to deep house instead of bounce. Today we're premiering a new video for Ares's pulsating single, "Run the Set." In the song, Ares talks about murder and violence but does so over a track that inspires fluid dance moves instead head-knocking. The contrast was intentional. "This is the premise of our music—the real time surroundings of New Orleans, but making people feel good about it, which itself is a major contradiction," Ares said in an email conversation.

In the video, Ares and The Pink Room Project dance around under red lights and hit some of their favorite spots in the city. The song's title, according to Ares, is also about asserting that New Orleans is primed to make a comeback, but with a sound that listeners aren't used to hearing. Watch the video above.